AnaptysBio enters antibody partnership with Gilead

May 2nd, 2012

Mandy Jackson

AnaptysBio is on a partnership roll: its agreement with Gilead Sciences, announcing on 1 May is its fourth new partnership in 2012 for the discovery of novel antibodies for partners.

AnaptysBio, a private firm based in San Diego disclosed neither the financial terms nor the disease areas of its Gilead deal, but AnaptysBio president and CEO Hamza Suria said the partnership would focus on areas in which Gilead has pipeline interest. Gilead is best known for its portfolio of antiviral drugs for HIV/AIDS and its development programs in hepatitis C therapies. It also has several therapeutics approved and in clinical development for cardiovascular, metabolic and respiratory conditions; cancer and inflammation; and liver disease.
(more…)

AnaptysBio Announces Antibody Discovery Partnership With Gilead Sciences

May 1st, 2012

Congress Is Wasting Money On Bad Defense Programs And Ignoring Good Ones

April 21st, 2012

By Mike “Mish” Shedlock

Business Insider

A close friend of mine since high school frequently writes for Foreign Affairs Magazine, the Small Wars Journal, and places like Janes’s Defence Weekly.

His latest article in the Small Wars Journal highlights compelling reasons that bigger, more expensive, weapons systems “borrowed from the end of World War II or the Cold War” are far too costly and are not even what is needed in today’s world. (more…)

AnaptysBio Makes Deal With Celgene For Antibodies

April 13th, 2012

By Lisa LaMotta

“The Pink Sheet” DAILY

AnaptysBio has gained another big partner in Celgene for its antibody discovery platform; bringing Celgene further into biologics.
(more…)

12 Investing and Business Gems from Avalon’s Kevin Kinsella

March 22nd, 2012

By Wade Rush

Xconomy

Current and former MIT students gathered at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, Tuesday night to hear one of San Diego’s most renowned venture investors, Avalon Ventures founder Kevin Kinsella, share insights from a long and adventurous career.

(more…)

GHOST ship maker Juliet gets $9.67M

February 16th, 2012

by Rodney Brown

Mass High Tech

Juliet Marine Systems Inc., Portsmouth, N.H., developer of the GHOST stealth littoral defense ship, has taken in $9.67 million in the company’s first institutional funding round, according to an SEC filing. (more…)

ANAPTYSBIO ANNOUNCES NEW STRATEGIC ANTIBODY DISCOVERY ALLIANCES WITH TWO PHARMA PARTNERS

January 6th, 2012

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – AnaptysBio, Inc., a privately-held therapeutic antibody company, today announced the initiation of new strategic alliances with two partners: Novartis and an undisclosed second pharmaceutical company.    The strategic alliance announced today with Novartis is AnaptysBio’s second collaboration with the Swiss-based pharmaceutical company and follows an initial partnership where AnaptysBio successfully delivered antibody candidates for Novartis’ development pipeline.  (more…)

A Sweet Deal: How Amira Reinvented Itself as a Drug Discovery Engine

December 23rd, 2011

Xconomy

By: Bruce V. Bigelow

The sale of Amira Pharmaceuticals will likely go down as one of the standout life sciences deals of 2011—it certainly ranks as one of the biggest payouts in San Diego, where Amira was founded in 2005. (more…)

Syndax Pharmaceuticals to Present at Upcoming Fall Conferences

October 24th, 2011

PRNewswire

Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a late-stage epigenetics oncology company, announced today that members of management will present at the following upcoming fall conferences: (more…)

AnaptysBio Appoints Carol G. Gallagher as Executive Chair and Promotes Senior Leaders Hamza Suria and David J. King

October 11th, 2011

AnaptysBio, Inc., a privately-held therapeutic antibody company, today announced that Carol G. Gallagher has joined its board of directors as Executive Chair. In addition, AnaptysBio has promoted Hamza Suria to chief business officer and acting chief executive officer, and David J. King to chief scientific officer. (more…)

Otonomy Presents Positive New Findings from Phase 1b Study of OTO-104 in Ménière’s Disease at International Conference

September 29th, 2011

DARPA Extends Contract with AnaptysBio to Generate Additional High Affinity Thermally Stable Antibodies

September 29th, 2011

SAN DIEGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–AnaptysBio, Inc., a privately-held therapeutic antibody company, today announced that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has extended its contract with AnaptysBio to generate additional high affinity thermally stable antibodies for biodefense applications. This extension was awarded based upon the successful completion by AnaptysBio of milestones during the first year of the contract. (more…)

TechStars lands $24M more for start-up contests

September 22nd, 2011

Boston Herald

By Donna Goodison 

TechStars is now a more enriching experience for start-ups.

The 14-week accelerator and seed-stage investment program will start offering each participating company an additional $100,000 in funding in the form of a convertible debt note. That’s on top of the $18,000 that TechStars gives to each company in return for a 6 percent equity stake. (more…)

Entinostat May Overcome AI Resistance in Breast Cancer

September 14th, 2011

Oncology Report Digital Network

By: Susan London

SAN FRANCISCO – Entinostat, a novel oral histone deacetylase inhibitor taken once weekly, may overcome resistance to hormonal therapy in breast cancer, the results of a randomized phase-II trial suggest. (more…)

Meet San Diego’s Newest Restaurant Mogul – A local entrepreneur nabs $2.4 million for a new online restaurant loyalty venture

September 13th, 2011

San Diego Magazine

By Erin Chambers Smith

Where do you go after starting San Diego’s fasting growing company, then selling it for millions? If you’re 26 at the time, like Jon Carder was in 2006 when he sold online loan comparison site ClientShop, you head to Indonesia to surf and mellow out. And then the drive and ambition that afforded you such leisure creeps in, and you get antsy. (more…)

Lead Syndax Drug Shows Survival Benefits in Breast Cancer Trial

September 6th, 2011

Xconomy

by Arlene Weintraub

Just two months after reporting positive data from a clinical trial of its lead drug candidate in lung cancer, Waltham, MA-based Syndax said today that the same drug performed well in a Phase 2 breast cancer trial. Results from the trial of the drug, called entinostat, will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Breast Cancer Symposium this week in San Francisco. (more…)

Syndax Pharmaceutical’s Positive Phase 2 Data Supports Potential for Entinostat in Advanced Breast Cancer

September 6th, 2011

 PRNewswire

– Entinostat in combination with exemestane prolonged progression-free survival –

 – Randomized, placebo-controlled data to be in an oral presentation at ASCO Breast Cancer Symposium 2011 –

Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage epigenetics oncology company, announced today that ENCORE 301, a randomized, placebo-controlled phase 2 study of exemestane with and without entinostat hit its primary endpoint of an improvement in progression-free survival (PFS).  The study showed that patients who received entinostat, a novel, oral small molecule inhibitor of class I histone deacetylases, with the hormone therapy exemestane, lived longer without their disease getting worse than people who received exemestane alone.   Safety and efficacy results from the trial will be presented in a poster and an oral presentation at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Breast Cancer Symposium 2011 in San Francisco, CA this week.   (more…)

ANAPTYSBIO SUCCESSFULLY GENERATES THERAPEUTIC ANTIBODIES IN PARTNERSHIP WITH A LEADING GLOBAL PHARMA

September 1st, 2011

BusinessWire

Success Fee Paid to AnaptysBio as Milestone Under Partnership

 SAN DIEGO, Calif. – AnaptysBio, Inc., a privately-held therapeutic antibody company, today announced the successful completion of a therapeutic antibody generation project with a leading global pharmaceutical company.  This is the second successful completion of a pharma project announced by AnaptysBio in 2011.  (more…)

Shelby.tv Adds Hulu to Its Social Video Recommendations

August 25th, 2011

By Ryan Lawler 

GigOm

Things are heating up in the social video recommendations space, as a number of startups seek to become the go-to place for discovering new content based on what their friends are watching. But one of the newest entrants in the space — Shelby.tv — just got some huge validation from Hulu, which is now allowing its videos to be viewed in the startup’s recommendation system. (more…)

Results of Syndax Pharmaceutical’s ENCORE 301 Study in Advanced Breast Cancer to be Highlighted at the ASCO Breast Cancer Symposium 2011

August 24th, 2011

– Oral presentation will take place Saturday, September 10, 2011 –

PRNewswire

Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage epigenetics oncology company, announced today that safety and efficacy data from ENCORE 301 will be presented in an oral session at the ASCO Breast Cancer Symposium 2011 on Saturday, September 10 in San Francisco, CA.   (more…)

Nanigans gets $3M, and EA as ad partner

August 9th, 2011

Mass High Tech

by Rodney H. Brown

Boston startup Nanigans Inc., barely a year old, has been chosen by Electronic Arts Inc. to supply its advertising platform for EA social games on Facebook, according to a release. In addition, Nanigans has raised $3 million in its first funding round, company officials said.
(more…)

Nanigans raises $3M for Facebook ad platform

August 9th, 2011

VentureBeat

by Dean Takahashi

Nanigans said it has raised $3 million in a first round of funding for its Facebook advertising platform.

Boston-based Nanigans has created a real-time bidding platform for Facebook that makes it a lot easier to maximize revenues from advertisers who want to reach social consumers.

(more…)

Zynga Teams Up with Tencent to Launch the First Chinese Version of One of its Games

August 4th, 2011

Digital East Asia

by Doug Herman

After months of speculation leading U.S.-based social games developer Zynga has partnered with Chinese Web giant Tencent Holdings Limited (HKG: 0700 | (ADR) PINK: TCEHY) to launch a localized version of CityVille in China. This is a smart move for Zynga which recently filed for a much anticipated IPO but has been criticized for being too dependent on Facebook, its primary distribution platform, which accounts for the overwhelming majority of the company’s users and revenues. (more…)

Bristol-Myers Squibb to Acquire Amira Pharmaceuticals

July 21st, 2011

Smartphone firm adopts nanomaterial touchscreens

July 21st, 2011

+Plastic Electronics by Dan Rogers

One of the top six manufacturers of smartphones worldwide has adopted a nanomaterial touchscreen from US firm Cambrios, signalling the success of disruptive, next-generation technologies in the touchscreens markets. (more…)

Zynga’s virtual items may turn into real cash for investors

July 6th, 2011

By David Milstead

Regular readers of Vox know this column has been, shall we say, skeptical of stocks with sky-high valuations, particularly those from the social media set. LinkedIn? Overpriced at $35 (U.S.), much less the $120 it traded at on its first day. (Oops.) (more…)

Here’s Who Gets Rich Off The Zynga IPO – Avalon Ventures: $915 million

July 5th, 2011

Avalon Ventures Partner – Richard Levandov

Avalon Ventures #2 – CalPERS IRR List

June 24th, 2011

Solcaltech.com

CalPERS (the California Public Employees’ Retirement System), one of the biggest limited partners in venture capital funds, has released its best and worst performing venture capital and private equity funds as of December 31st, showing that two Southern California venture funds were tops in terms of internal rates of return (IRR). Topping the list of IRR investments was Clearstone Venture Partners I-B, L.P., a 1999-vintage fund from Santa Monica-based Clearstone, which had an IRR of 154.7 percent. Second on the returns list was Avalon Ventures VIII, L.P., with 109.7 percent IRR for the La Jolla fund, vintage year 2007. CalPERS has been required to release its IRR and performance data since 2002. An easily parsable version of the CalPERS data was provided by Fortune earlier this week.

Syndax Pharmaceuticals Announces Issuance of US Patent for Entinostat — Extends exclusivity to 2029 supporting commercialization in breast and lung cancer —

June 2nd, 2011

 PRNewswire

Syndax Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage epigenetics oncology company, today announced allowance by the United States Patent and Trademark Office of Patent Application Serial No. 12/549458 entitled: ” N-(2-AMINOPHENYL)-4[N-(PYRIDINE-3-YL)- METHOXYCARBONYL—AMINOMETHYL]-BENZAMINE (MS-275) POLYMORPH B.”   This follows the UK issuance which was granted in October of 2010 adding to the extensive patent estate. (more…)

5 QUESTIONS for David J. Jilk, CEO of Boulder-based Standing Cloud

May 30th, 2011

Daily Camera

Boulder-based Standing Cloud offers software and development platform deployment and management to business owners and developers. (more…)

Avalon Ventures’ Levandov on Outlook for Zynga

May 25th, 2011

Bloomberg

Avalon Ventures’ Levandov on Outlook for Zynga

Richard Levandov, managing member at Avalon Ventures, talks about the outlook for Zynga Inc. and the impact of his stake in the company on his future investments. The biggest maker of games on Facebook may file for an initial public offering by the end of June to capitalize on investors’ demand for shares of social-media startups, a person familiar with the plans said. Levandov speaks with Emily Chang and Cory Johnson on Bloomberg Television’s “Bloomberg West.” (Source: Bloomberg)

Web Ad Pioneer Dave Morgan Adapts Simulmedia To TV’s Reality

May 17th, 2011

by Peter Kafka

All Things D

The TV networks are spending the week telling advertisers to keep buying TV ads.

Great idea, says Dave Morgan. (more…)

Zynga goes Gaga! Lady Gaga and Zynga team up to celebrate new album “Born This Way”

May 10th, 2011

Press Release

FarmVille Players Get Exclusive First Listen to “Born This Way” Songs in Newly Created GagaVille Farm, Provided in Partnership with Clear Channel’s iHeartRadio

Partnership Also Includes Zynga Game Cards with Free Album, Words With Friends
“Words with Gaga” Contest, and Limited Edition Virtual Items in RewardVille

SAN FRANCISCO – May 10, 2011 – Zynga Inc. Lady Gaga and Zynga today announced a partnership to launch the mega-artist’s new album “Born this Way.” Launching May 17, the first-of-its-kind program gives “little monsters” throughout the world a first listen to exclusive un-released songs from the upcoming when they visit GagaVille, a uniquely designed neighboring farm in FarmVille (There will be unicorns and crystals. Enough said.). The full album also comes bundled as a free download with the purchase of a special Zynga $25 game card, available exclusively at Best Buy. (more…)

TV Marketers Score ‘Five-0′ Fans With Savvy Set-Top Targeting

May 6th, 2011

MediaDailyNews

By Wayne Friedman

CBS’ hit “Hawaii Five-0″ counted on its marketing success this year from some not-so-obvious viewers, via information gleaned from new TV set-top box data.

Working with CBS’ media agency OMD USA, Simulmedia — whose focus is targeting TV advertising campaigns through set-top-box data groups — aimed the “Hawaii Five-0″ launch at specific cable viewers, many coming from unlikely places.

“He really helped us identify underserved pockets of audience,” says George Schweitzer, president of CBS Marketing Group. “It wasn’t about getting a specific demographic — say, 18-49 — or age or education. It was about finding viewers predisposed to watching a police drama.”

(more…)

Otonomy Announces Positive Results from Phase 1b Study of OTO-104 in Ménière’s Disease

April 28th, 2011

Otonomy, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapeutics for diseases and disorders of the inner and middle ear, today announced positive data from a Phase 1b study of the company’s lead product candidate, OTO-104, in patients with Ménière’s disease. Study results showed OTO-104 to be well-tolerated at both doses tested when delivered via a single intratympanic (IT) injection. Additionally, while not powered to demonstrate statistically significant clinical activity, data from the trial showed that patients receiving OTO-104 experienced greater reductions in vertigo frequency and tinnitus compared to patients receiving placebo. Otonomy plans to discuss these study findings with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and initiate a Phase 2 clinical trial of OTO-104 in Ménière’s disease by the end of 2011. (more…)

210M Pfizer Deal Validates Small Firm – BIOTECH: Big Pharma Sees Vast Potential in Zacharon’s Method of Treating Diseases

April 18th, 2011

San Diego Business Journal

By Kelly Quigley

Robin Jackman, Zacharon’s president and CEO, is the first to admit that there aren’t too many people outside the biotech world who understand the science at the core of his small company. (more…)

Apple, Kaltura Among the Acts Lighting Up the NAB Show

April 13th, 2011

By Geoff Spick

CMS Wire

This week sees the National Association of Broadcasters show take place in Las Vegas. It’s the place to find out what’s happening in Internet broadcasting alongside other TV and film technologies.

It’s Showtime!

The National Association of Broadcasters show attracts tens of thousands of visitors, does many millions of dollars in business and is a great place to find out what technology and web content will be hitting your computer screen, or HD and 3D television in the coming years.

At the show are the likes of Panasonic, Sony (showing off some 3D golf), LG and Microsoft, with keynotes from all kinds of industry folk, from directors such as James Cameron and Kevin Smith to technical or industry bigwigs from MPEG, CBS and other major players.

There is also a massive computer and Internet-based presence with the likes of Vimeo and Highwind promoting their web-based content and systems. Making a splash at the show was Apple with new pricing for its Final Cut Pro X editing software, down from US$ 999 to US$ 299, making it more accessible to video editors working in any market.

Kaltura Powers On

Kaltura’s open source video platform made waves at the show with the announcement that it is being used as the backbone for Internet Broadcasting’s (Ibsys’) new content management system for media companies. Fox Digital Media has also signed Kaltura to power a centralized video asset management platform for the broadband video distribution needs of FNG’s digital assets.

Kaltura offers a range of video editing and management tools Internet Broadcasting manages the online presence for many local media companies in the US, creating and operating hundreds of websites on their behalf. Internet Broadcasting’s new platform, ibPublish 2, will use Kaltura’s video managment tools, including content management, syndication and distribution and mobile delivery to iOS and Android devices.

The Kinsella Debate Continues over Pharma versus Biotech, Worlds in Collision

April 12th, 2011

Xconomy

by Bruce V. Bigelow

Almost two months ago, Kevin Kinsella of San Diego’s Avalon Ventures, fired off some shots heard ’round the world, saying that Big Pharma’s hardball acquisition tactics and mercenary business practices have been pushing biotech ventures to the point of extinction. (more…)

Fox Digital Media Selects Kaltura to Power Online Video for Fox Networks Group

April 11th, 2011

Los Angeles, CA and New York, NY

Fox Digital Media has begun the development of a Kaltura-powered video asset management platform geared to serve online video across the Fox Networks Group. (more…)

Some Casino Games Find a Home on Facebook but Zynga Still Runs the House

April 11th, 2011

By AJ Glasser

insidesocialgames.com

The casino genre is a fickle field for social games. With the exception of Zynga’s Texas HoldEm Poker, which seems to have a death grip on a spot in our top five games on AppData, not many other ever break 1 million monthly active users or 200,000 daily active users. Those that do are often alternative language variants of Texas Hold ‘Em poker. Here’s a quick look at the top five casino games by size and their overall growth trends. (more…)

Forbes Midas List 2011′s Top Tech Investors

April 7th, 2011

Forbes

#53 Rich Levandov

Pfizer, Biotech Partner to Develop Drugs for Rare Diseases

April 6th, 2011

The Wall Street Journal
By JONATHAN D. ROCKOFF

Pfizer Inc. is partnering with a San Diego biotechnology firm in an unusual early-stage drug-development deal that could be worth as much as $210 million and bolster the pharmaceutical giant’s new push into rare diseases, the companies said. (more…)

The World’s Most Social City Meets Social Media: Why One Hot Investor Thinks New York Is on Fire as a Tech Startup Hub

April 4th, 2011

Xconomy

by Robert Buderi

It’s no secret to anyone looking at venture activity that New York has blossomed over the past few years as a startup mecca. Riding a wave of investments in Web , media, and advertising startups, the city has recently climbed past Boston to become the second greatest center (after the Bay Area) of high-tech deal making when it comes to the general Internet space. (more…)

Cloudkick Founder Alex Polvi on the Experience of Getting Acquired by Rackspace in Startup Year One

March 31st, 2011

Wade Roushe

xcconomy

Alex Polvi is on the tech world’s express elevator. Just a few years ago, the 25-year-old computer science graduate from Oregon State University was a system administrator at Open Source Lab, the home of Linux, Apache, Drupal, and other huge open-source software projects. It’s the place developers around the world depend on to maintain and distribute up-to-date code for these basic Web technologies. (more…)

AFGE Reduces VMware Recovery Times by 80% with TwinStrata CloudArray®, Veeam and Amazon S3 Cloud Storage

March 30th, 2011

PRNewswire

TwinStrata, Inc., the leading innovator in data storage and data protection solutions using cloud storage, today announced that the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest federal employee union in the United States, has selected its CloudArray® virtual appliance to provide a seamless extension to cloud storage for its Veeam Backup & Replication software. (more…)

Backupify: The True Data Bodyguard

March 1st, 2011

AppStorm

by Justin Stravarius

A major USP of the cloud and SaaS apps is data security. Anyone with logical thinking would understand the benefits of having their data stored in a world class data center managed by experts and their data duplicated across multiple centres across the globe for redundancy.

There’s still one part of most cloud setups that makes it weak, the human connection. Human errors can override the checks and balances in place and threaten the safety of the data stored. We’ve witnessed quiet a few instances of this. Backupify helps you set up an extra layer of backup ensuring peace of mind. (more…)

Big Pharma’s Hardball Tactics Won’t Kill Biotech, But it Could Kill Off Some Pharmas

February 28th, 2011

by Luke Timmerman

Xconomy

Few people in biotech have the guts to stir the pot the way Kevin Kinsella did in an interview with Xconomy’s Bruce Bigelow earlier this month.

Kinsella, a venture capitalist with a 30-year track record of biotech investing, delivered a blistering analysis of what he sees as the pharmaceutical industry’s bad-faith negotiating habits, predatory behavior, and short-term, brass knuckle business tactics when dealing with smaller biotech firms. Big Pharma, basically, risks killing the golden goose of biotech innovation it needs to survive, he contends.

(more…)

Word Games Anytime, No Travel Tiles Required

February 21st, 2011

New York Times

by PHYLLIS KORKKI

If the inventor of Scrabble were alive today, he would be amazed by the way millions of people are playing his word game now: on tiny screens, wherever they happen to be, against players who can be halfway across the country, or the world. (more…)

Zynga seen raising $500M at $10B value

February 18th, 2011

San Jose Business Journal

by Cromwell Schubarth

 
Zynga is reportedly close to raising half a billion dollars in a funding that values the social gaming company at about $10 billion. (more…)

Avalon Ventures Likes Being A Medium Fish In An Off-Beat Pond

February 17th, 2011

The Wall Street Journal

by Russell Garland

Avalon’s Kinsella Calls Out Big Pharma for “Bad Behavior” That’s Pushing Biotech Ventures “Almost to Point of Extinction”

February 17th, 2011

Xconomy

by Bruce V. Bigelow

San Diego’s Avalon Ventures has had some noteworthy success in the past couple of months. The 28-year-old firm raised $200 million for its ninth fund, which was oversubscribed by 33 percent. Avalon, which invests in both life sciences and Web technologies, also took some winnings off the table with the recent sale of a portfolio company, Boston, MA-based BioVex Group, for $425 million (with another $575 million in potential milestone payments). In addition, two other Avalon portfolio companies were acquired in December (reportedly at significant multiples of invested capital): San Francisco-based Cloudkick went to Rackspace and AOL acquired New York’s Pictela. (more…)

Intel Capital Investments to Help Expand the Mobile Ecosystem

February 14th, 2011

BusinessWire

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

• Intel Capital to invest $26 million in six mobility companies around the globe.
• New investments will help drive continued innovation in mobile hardware, software and applications ecosystems.
• Technologies bring new user experiences across a continuum of devices.

  (more…)

The Top Ten Storage Startups

February 4th, 2011

Infostor

by Dave Simpson

Last year, the number of startups that entered the storage market just about equaled the number of storage vendors that were acquired in the M&A fever. I have no idea when a startup ceases to be a startup, but when I first started this top ten list I gave it a three-year window. That proved too daunting, and the startups that launched two or three years ago have received plenty of coverage anyway. So I made it easy on myself and limited my picks to startups that either launched or shipped their first products during 2010. I also factored in technology innovation, company management and funding.

In alphabetical order, here are some of the more promising startups:
(more…)

A Whole New Meaning to Reality TV

February 3rd, 2011

Digiday

by Melinda Gipson

The digerati at AlwaysOn seemed to be of two minds with respect to the future of television. One group believes that the increasingly large entertainment hearth in your house today will ultimately become just one more “monitor” – an IP-connected device – that you may soon access via any number of wirelessly linked entertainment devices. Another school –best articulated by David Morgan, CEO ofSimulmedia.com – fervently believes that television, armed with Internet addressable ads, could well maintain both its audience and its advertising spending lead on Internet and mobile combined far into the future.

(more…)

Backupify is more than a backup service

February 3rd, 2011

cnet News

by Rafe Needleman

Mirco Wilhelm, the poor guy whose Flickr account was mistakenly wiped out, along with the 4,000 photos, comments, and working hyperlinks in it, could have saved himself some amount of heartache had he signed up for Backupify, a handy utility that backs up social and cloud-based services to ensure against just this type of thing. Backupify is much more than backup, though–more on that in a second.

(more…)

Should SMEs Be Using Cloud Storage For Primary Data?

January 28th, 2011

Processor

by George Crump

What if the entire storage management process could be rendered as simple as installing a cable modem? Simply connect a box to your network and then connect it to the Internet, and limitless storage that automatically manages itself is yours. This is the promise of cloud storage when used for primary data in conjunction with a cloud storage controller, a new breed of storage appliance that aims to make the experience of using the cloud much like using traditional onsite arrays but with cloud benefits.

(more…)

Amgen’s $1B BioVex Buy May Signal More to Come

January 26th, 2011

By Nuala Moran BioWorld Today Correspondent

LONDON – BioVex Group Inc is to be acquired by Amgen Inc. in a cash sale that values the University College London spinout at up to $1 billion. There will be $425 million up front for the investors of the privately held cancer vaccines specialist, with $575 million in additional payments against regulatory and sales milestones.

(more…)

Backupify unveils one-click restore for cloud apps

January 25th, 2011

Avalon Ventures Bets On Pets

January 24th, 2011

By Timothy Hay

The Wall Street Journal

Avalon Ventures prides itself on making successful bets in diverse areas that other investors overlook.

(more…)

Amgen’s Purchase of Cancer Drugmaker Biovex May Mean More Deals Are Coming

January 24th, 2011

By Rob Waters

Bloomburg

Amgen Inc.’s purchase of Biovex, the maker of an experimental cancer vaccine, for as much as $1 billion may signal more deals that aim to push the biotechnology company deeper into tumor treatment.

(more…)

Amgen to Buy Biovex for $425 Million to Add Experimental Cancer Medicines

January 24th, 2011

By Rob Waters

Bloomberg

Amgen Inc., the world’s largest biotechnology company, said it agreed to buy Biovex, a closely held maker of experimental cancer drugs for $425 million plus as much as $575 million in milestone payments.

(more…)

Is cloud-enabled DR ready for prime time?

January 20th, 2011

By Jeff Byrne and Jeff Boles, Taneja Group

INFOSTOR

Have you experienced an unplanned outage lately?  Based on our conversations with IT administrators, there’s at least a 25% chance you have.  Those that have experienced an outage recently may no longer be in the IT trenches.  But if you’ve survived a painful outage, there’s a good chance you found out the hard way that a good number of the servers under your management have a critical role to play.  Even a minor outage that renders one of those critical servers, or even a file, unavailable for a few hours can be extremely costly, if not devastating.

(more…)

Backupify Backupified 136 Million Tweets, 713 Million Emails In 2010

January 18th, 2011

by Leena Rao

TechCrunch

Backupify, a cloud computing service that backs up data on other cloud computing services, has just released a “year in review” announcement that includes staggering data on the amount of content saved through the platform.

(more…)

Standing Cloud and Tagadab Announce Partnership to Simplify Application Management in the EuroCloud. U.K. and E.U. users can quickly and easily deploy cloud applications.

January 18th, 2011

Standing Cloud, a U.S.-based online application management company, and Tagadab, a U.K.-based Internet hosting company, have announced a partnership to give users in the U.K. a vastly simplified way of deploying cloud-hosted applications.

(more…)

San Diego’s Avalon Ventures Closes Ninth Fund, Raises $200 M

January 10th, 2011

By Bruce V. Bigelow

XCONOMY – When Avalon Ventures began fund-raising for its ninth venture fund back in May, the San Diego VC firm said it was targeting $150 million. Today Avalon plans to announce that it has closed capital commitments of $200 million for its ninth and largest fund.

Founder Kevin Kinsella says Avalon Ventures IX was more than 33 percent oversubscribed, and all of the institutional investors in Avalon’s two previous funds returned to make commitments to the newest fund. “We’re pretty happy with that,” he told me by phone.

(more…)

The Year Ahead in Cloud Computing

January 4th, 2011

The pressure to create a cloud presence will only become stronger in 2011. What IT needs to know to be prepared.

By Nicos Vekiarides, CEO, TwinStrata

(more…)

ANAPTYSBIO, INC. RECEIVES MILESTONE PAYMENT FROM MERCK FOR SUCCESSFUL DELIVERY OF CANDIDATE ANTIBODIES FOR THERAPEUTIC USE

January 4th, 2011

SAN DIEGO, CA – AnaptysBio, Inc., a privately-held therapeutic antibody platform and product company, announced today the successful completion of an optimization project for Merck as part of an agreement for the delivery of candidate antibodies for therapeutic use.

(more…)

Will CityVille Be First To Blow Past 100 Million Monthly Active Users?

January 3rd, 2011

By Robin Wauters

TechCrunch - Zynga launched CityVille on Facebook just over a month ago, and according to the application page there are now over 84,222,766 users actively playing the game.

(more…)

Standing Cloud Secures Funding, Launches Partner Program

December 20th, 2010

By Susan J. Campbell

TMCnet Contributing Editor

With the rapid proliferation of cloud computing throughout the global marketplace, it would stand to reason that a company developing solutions to make it easy to deploy and run apps in the cloud would be in high demand. Standing Cloud, a company doing just that, was able to prove its worth in the marketplace by closing a $3 million financing deal led by Rich Levandov at Avalon Ventures.

(more…)

AOL Acquires Display Ad Tool Pictela; Project Devil Gets Full Roll Out

December 16th, 2010

by David Kaplan

paidContent.org

After making several content buys the past few months, AOL (NYSE: AOL) is approaching the end of the year with an acquisition for the advertising side of its business. Its latest purchase is Pictela, a high-def display ad tool. The announcement of the deal, terms of which weren’t disclosed, was timed for the complete rollout of AOL’s page takeover ad serving system Project Devil. The acquisition follows a string of AOL purchases including StudioNow, 5min Media, TechCrunch and Thing Labs.

(more…)

Rackspace Acquires Cloudkick to Provide Powerful Server Management Tools for the Cloud Computing Era

December 16th, 2010

SAN ANTONIO – December 16, 2010 – Rackspace® Hosting, the world’s leading specialist in the hosting and cloud computing industry, today announced its acquisition of Cloudkick™, the creator of award-winning web applications for easy and efficient cloud-server management.  Cloudkick offers what amounts to a cockpit for navigating complex cloud environments, with all the information and controls in one elegant, convenient panel to help developers and system administrators deploy and manage their cloud environments.

(more…)

Aol Acquires Pictela

December 16th, 2010

New York, NY

High-Definition Brand Content Platform Boosts AOL’s Innovative Advertising Offering

Additionally, AOL Accelerates Rollout of Project Devil Ads Across AOL Media Properties: Intends to Enable Format Across All AOL Media by End of March

AOL Inc. [NYSE: AOL] today announced it has acquired Pictela, Inc., the provider of an award-winning global technology platform for serving and distributing high- definition brand content across online advertising and social media. The transaction brings further scale to AOL’s suite of premium advertising tools for advertisers, agencies and publishers, including the company’s innovative new Project Devil display advertising format. Pictela will remain a separate group within AOL Advertising, based in New York, and will continue to provide its products and services to outside partners. Deal terms were not disclosed. Pictela joins other strategic acquisitions made by AOL in 2010 including StudioNow, 5min Media, TechCrunch and Thing Labs.

(more…)

Backupify extracts your information from Facebook, Twitter and Google Apps.

October 22nd, 2010

By David F. Carr

Forbes.com

Yes, I clicked the delete button. Yes, I regret it now. Yes, I belatedly realized why the Backupify service makes sense.

At first it seems an odd business model. Backupify is a cloud service that backs up other cloud services, storing the data archives on Amazon.com’s cloud storage service. Part of the appeal of cloud applications is that they’re operated by Internet companies in professionally run data centers, instead of running on our unreliable PCs. So our data should be safe there, right? Why should we feel the need to back up our e-mail and Google Docs spreadsheets when Google stores multiple copies of every bit of data we entrust to its services?

(more…)

San Diego’s ReVision Therapeutics, Founded in April, Takes on Development of Drug Candidate for Age-Related Blindness

August 31st, 2010

Source: Bruce V. Bigelow, Xconomy.com

A San Diego biopharmaceutical startup, formed just five months ago to resume development of a compound for treating age-related macular degeneration, has reported encouraging results from a two-year, mid-stage clinical trial of the compound, known as fenretinide.
(more…)

What Atlas And DoubleClick Did For Direct Marketers, Pictela Will Do For Brand Marketers Says CEO Rogers

April 5th, 2010

Source: AdExchanger.com

Greg Rogers is CEO of Pictela, a brand content distribution platform.
(more…)

E-Band Communications Takes Market Share Lead in 70-80 GHz Wireless Gigabit Backhaul Market

February 4th, 2010

Source: Business Wire

4G Carriers Deploying High Capacity Networks to Support Bandwidth-Hungry Smartphones and Internet Users (more…)

Alcon to Purchase Ophthalmic Pharmaceutical Assets from Sirion

January 18th, 2010

Source: Alcon, Inc.

HUENENBERG, Switzerland–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Alcon (NYSE: ACL), the world’s leader in eye care, announced today that it will purchase the rights in the United States for two FDA-approved topical eye care products from Sirion Therapeutics, Inc. The two products purchased are Durezol^TM, a marketed ophthalmic corticosteroid approved for the treatment of inflammation and pain associated with eye surgery, and Zirgan^TM, a recently approved antiviral for the treatment of acute herpetic keratitis (corneal ulcers). In addition to these marketed products, Alcon also acquired the global rights, excluding Latin America, for Zyclorin^TM. This product is currently in clinical development to treat dry eye and other ocular surface diseases. (more…)

Amira Pharmaceuticals Achieves Development Milestone Related to FLAP Inhibitor Program

January 7th, 2010

By Ian Stone

San Diego – January 7, 2010 — Amira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has achieved another development milestone in its FLAP program, which is partnered with GlaxoSmithKline. This milestone is related to the successful development of a solid dose formulation, which is critical for future development and commercialization activities. (more…)

Avalon Ventures’ Kevin Kinsella Sees a Way Through the Recession

May 1st, 2009

By Juha-Pekka Tikka

XCONOMY – San Diego’s Avalon Ventures is among a handful of homegrown VC firms that remains an active investor in early stage companies in the region, even though overall venture funding is anemic right now. But Avalon founder Kevin Kinsella sees a healthy resurgence of venture activities—and even some IPOs on the horizon. “The situation is what it is,” Kinsella tells me, “but we continue to see opportunities in venture capital.” (more…)

How ‘Jersey Boys’ Became One Of A VC’s Best Investments

April 29th, 2009

By Lorie Konish

WSJ Blogs – After seeing a rehearsal for a new musical in La Jolla, Calif., in October 2004, venture capitalist Kevin Kinsella came away with one conclusion: He had to invest in it. (more…)

Amira’s Drug Discovery Team, Pioneers of Hit Asthma Treatment, Take Aim at Pulmonary Fibrosis

March 18th, 2009

By Luke Timmerman

People with pulmonary fibrosis have a pretty raw deal. Scientists don’t really know what causes this lung-damaging disease, and there’s no really effective FDA-approved treatment. The disease makes it hard to breathe, and kills an estimated 40,000 people a year. That’s a bigger killer than some far better known culprits like prostate cancer. (more…)

Online Behavioral Targeting Pioneer Turns To TV

March 6th, 2009

By Joe Mandese

MEDIA DAILY NEWS Dave Morgan, one of the pioneers of so-called “behavioral targeting” in online media, has shifted his focus to Madison Avenue’s 800-pound gorilla, television. Morgan, who founded behavioral targeting firm Tacoda, and ultimately sold it to Time Warner’s AOL unit, has launched Simulmedia, a company he says will focus on helping TV programmers improve their audience ratings by “lifting the effectiveness” of their promo spots and tune-in advertising. (more…)

Otonomy Tunes in to Biotech’s Sound Opportunity: Diseases of the Ear

March 6th, 2009

By Luke Timmerman

XCONOMY Driving down Prospect Street in La Jolla one day in January 2008, Jay Lichter got so dizzy he had to pull over. After a stop in the ER, he ended up in the office of Jeff Harris, the chief of ear, nose, and throat surgery at the UC San Diego. The diagnosis: Meniere’s (Men-yay’s) disease, an inner ear fluid imbalance that leads to episodes of severe dizziness, vertigo, and gradual hearing loss. (more…)

Dave Morgan to Launch Simulmedia, A New Company That Will Improve Impact of TV Program Promotions

March 5th, 2009

Gets Early Funding from Avalon Ventures and Union Square Ventures

NEW YORK (March 5, 2009) Dave Morgan, who founded, developed and sold TACODA and Real Media today announced that he will launch a new company outside of the Internet industry. His new venture, Simulmedia, will help television companies improve ratings by lifting the effectiveness of their tune-in programming spots. (more…)

Social Games: Interview With The CEO Of Zynga

February 24th, 2009

By Atul Bagga
Think Entertainment: Gaming   [ View as PDF ]

THINK SUMMARY: We had a chance to interview Mark Pincus, the CEO and Founder of Zynga, one of the leading social gaming companies, with about 20 games across seven social networks and 30 million monthly unique users. We believe that social gaming companies such as Zynga will benefit from the viral distribution, high reach, and continued growth of social networking sites. In addition, we believe that the Generation Y’s comfort level with Internet and virtual worlds could drive spending on virtual goods, which could benefit online gaming companies such as Zynga that are trying to monetize users through virtual goods model. (more…)

Carolus Therapeutics Wants to be King of Cytokine Targeting

January 20th, 2009

By Anette Breindl
Science Editor

Their company may be young and, for the time being, mainly virtual, but the folks at Carolus Therapeutics do not shy away from thinking big. It’s named after Carolus Magnus, or Charlemagne, who in the first century A.D. founded an empire that eventually encompassed much of Europe. Carolus’ scientific co-founders are located in Aachen, Germany, the main residence of the original Carolus. The company’s business operations are in the New World, and headquartered in San Diego. Carolus was founded in 2007 with seed funding from Avalon Ventures, where Carolus CEO Jay Lichter also is managing partner. (more…)

Amira Pharmaceuticals Inc. expands its Scientific Advisory Board and appoints Dr. Paul Anderson, Professor Jerold Chun and Professor Andrew Tager

January 8th, 2009

San Diego, CA – January 8, 2009 — Amira Pharmaceuticals, a small molecule pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and early development of compounds to treat inflammatory diseases, today announced the appointment of Dr. Paul Anderson, Professor Jerold Chun and Professor Andrew Tager to its Scientific Advisory Board. This further strengthens the Board that includes Professor Frank Austen (Professor of Respiratory and Inflammatory diseases, Harvard Medical School), Professor Sally Wenzel (Professor of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh), and Professor Joseph Witztum (Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Diego). (more…)

Research Published in Nature Medicine Shows Disruption of Chemokine Interactions Inhibits Atherosclerosis in Mice

January 5th, 2009

San Diego-Based Carolus Therapeutics Focuses on Discovery and Development of Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Based on Collaborators’ Findings at RWTH Aachen University in Germany (more…)

Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You: The Untold Story of How a San Diego VC Backed Broadway’s Jersey Boys

December 31st, 2008

By Bruce V. Bigelow
Xconomy San Diego   [ View as PDF ]

Among San Diego’s venture capitalists, I’d say that Kevin Kinsella ranks among the foremost riskophiles. Since the formation of his first Avalon Ventures fund some 25 years ago, he has shown a willingness to take chances where even angels fear to tread—and an uncanny knack for making the right bet. Kinsella’s success in backing—and often founding—early stage ventures such as Sequana Therapeutics and Aurora Biosciences (which was acquired by Boston’s Vertex Pharmaceuticals) prompted The New York Times to crown him “the P.T. Barnum of biotech.” (more…)

Zacharon Pharmaceuticals Completes $3.5 Million Series A Financing, Receives More Than $2.2 Million in NIH Grants

November 18th, 2008

Source: PR Newswire Association

Company Positioned to Advance Glycan Inhibitors Identified with Proprietary High-Throughput Screening Platform Through Safety Studies, Into Early Clinical Trials (more…)

Zynga Launches “Live Poker” for the iPhone; First Live Game Turns iPhone into a Social Gaming Platform

November 13th, 2008

Source: Business Wire

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Zynga, the largest social gaming network, announced today the launch of “Live Poker,” the first truly live game on the iPhone. This mobile version of Zynga’s popular Texas Hold’Em turns the iPhone into an always-on social gaming device. (more…)

Review – Kaltura Interactive Video Player for WordPress

October 31st, 2008

Source: Enterprise Mastermind

(more…)

Coca-Cola Blastbeat (IRL) Teams with Kaltura to Empower its Teen Music & Multimedia Business Project with Collaborative Videos

October 29th, 2008

Kaltura’s advanced open source video platform including video display, uploading/importing and remixing, added to Blastbeat.tv and Blastbeat.org (more…)

Kaltura’s Open Source Video Management Platform Emphasizes User Participation

October 29th, 2008

by Will Richmond

Source: VideoNuze

I’ve been hearing from a number of colleagues about Kaltura, an open source video management platform, and finally got a chance to learn more in a recent briefing with Lisa Bennett, the company’s director of marketing. (more…)

Gambling on Facebook Games, Zynga Cashes In

July 24th, 2008

By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO
Source: Wall Street Journal.

Zynga Game Network Inc., which makes free poker, puzzle and other games for social-networking Web sites, has attracted backing from heavyweight investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers — a sign of investors’ growing interest in services that plug into social networks. (more…)

Amira Pharmaceuticals Hires Industry Veteran for CFO Position

June 9th, 2008

Media Release
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Amira Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Marcy Zech at Amira Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Tel: +1 858 228 4689
marcy.zech@amirapharm.com

SAN DIEGO, June 9, 2008 — Amira Pharmaceuticals, a small molecule pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of compounds to treat inflammatory diseases, announced the hiring of Michael V. Swanson as the company’s Chief Financial Officer. (more…)

Amira Pharmaceuticals achieves milestones in FLAP inhibitor program with GlaxoSmithKline

June 2nd, 2008

GSK exercises option for AM803, a FLAP inhibitor which recently completed phase I studies

SAN DIEGO, June 2, 2008 — Amira Pharmaceuticals today announced that under the terms of a worldwide exclusive agreement entered into in Feb 2008, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will exercise its right to a second FLAP compound, AM803. Under the original agreement, GSK has rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize FLAP (5-Lipoxygenase Activating Protein) inhibitors for the treatment of respiratory and cardiovascular disease. The decision to develop AM803 follows the successful completion of a phase I study by Amira, which demonstrated its potential as a once-daily FLAP inhibitor. (more…)

Connecting Game Players to Build a Sense of Loyalty

May 19th, 2008

By SETH SCHIESEL
MY Times

Back in the analog era, delivering mass entertainment meant helping people connect with a character, a brand or a franchise. Few companies were more successful with that approach than Disney, with its stable of pop culture stars. (more…)

Music without labels

April 15th, 2008

By Samantha Marshall
dkc NEWS

Who needs big record labels?

Not U2 and Jay-Z, who left their companies in the past two weeks to sign on with Live Nation. Madonna, Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails have also voted with their feet. Even emerging acts are joining upstart digital companies in defiance of the conventional wisdom that the majors are still necessary to sell lots of records. (more…)

VCs Warming Up to Area Biotechs

April 2nd, 2008

San Diego Competitive With New England and Silicon Valley in National Ranking

By Ned Randolph
San Diego Business Journal Staff

San Diego continues to stake a claim as a leading biotech center, finishing as No. 3 in venture capital investments in the nation in the fourth quarter of 2007 and No. 2 for the year, according to a recent report. (more…)